Shirley Ann Jackson had big plans when she was hired as president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute a decade ago. Shovels hit the ground soon after as part of a wide-ranging strategic plan that she directed. Ms. Jackson’s compensation matched her ambition, and just two years into her presidency she was the highest-paid private-college chief.
Now, after a decade on the job, she’s back on top again with a pay package of $1,598,247 for the 2007-8 fiscal year, the most recent data available. Throughout her tenure, Ms. Jackson has consistently been among the top earners.
Ms. Jackson joins 22 other private-college presidents with compensation above $1-million, according to an annual survey of the compensation packages of private-college chiefs (a companion survey of public-college presidents will be released in January). A total of 110 presidents of the 419 private colleges included in the analysis reported total compensation of more than $500,000.
The median pay for those reviewed, which was $358,746, increased 6.5 percent from the 2006-7 fiscal year. Presidents at research universities fared even better, with a median of $627,750, an increase of 15.5 percent.
Salary increases have probably leveled off since then, with some presidents even taking pay cuts this year. More college leaders could see their compensation dip next year, according to a recent survey of 259 private colleges by Yaffe & Company, a consulting firm specializing in executive compensation.
Ms. Jackson, for example, took a voluntary pay reduction of 5 percent for the current fiscal year. University officials defend her pay, pointing to the success of her Rensselaer Plan, which included a $1.4-billion fund-raising campaign, more than $690-million in new building and renovation projects on the campus, an influx of star faculty members, and steady improvement in the academic achievements of incoming students.
A former Clinton-administration official, Ms. Jackson, 63, served as chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission when she was recruited to lead Rensselaer in 1999. A world-renowned physicist, she was the first black female doctoral student to graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Despite her glowing résumé and strong track record, Ms. Jackson’s tenure has had its share of controversy.
She serves as a director on six corporate boards, earning at least another $1.3-million annually, according to a Chronicle analysis of corporate filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Critics say her board work takes her away from the campus, but Rensselaer’s Board of Trustees sees it as time well spent and key to raising the institution’s public profile.
Several faculty members also criticize the university’s spending practices and her compensation. And they point to what they call her “top down” system of governance, and a lack of communication between administrators and faculty members.
In 2006, Ms. Jackson narrowly beat a faculty vote of no confidence by just six votes. The faculty-governance system has not included a senate since Ms. Jackson’s office suspended it in 2007.
Don Steiner, an emeritus professor who taught at Rensselaer for 27 years, has been an outspoken opponent of the president. He sent facultywide e-mail messages raising questions about the suspension of the faculty senate.
“There is a pretty high level of fear among the faculty that if they speak out there will be retaliation,” he says.
Faculty members have questioned Ms. Jackson’s level of compensation, Mr. Steiner says, especially after the institute’s credit rating was downgraded over relatively high operating deficits in December 2005.
“We were taking a lot of financial risks in the hope of moving the institute forward,” he says. Rensselaer’s bond rating has since been upgraded.
Ms. Jackson’s compensation level is set by a committee of the Board of Trustees, which stands behind the president and her compensation.
“The magnitude and complexity of the changes that Ms. Jackson has wrought at Rensselaer could not have been accomplished in a short-term presidency,” said Samuel F. Heffner, chairman of the Board of Trustees, in a written statement. “We the Board of Trustees unanimously affirm our support for what she has accomplished.”
Benefits and Bonuses
Compensation packages aren’t always an apples-to-apples comparison, and one-time payments reported on the Internal Revenue Service Form 990, from which The Chronicle bases its survey, can skew the rankings among top-paid college chiefs.
For example, the No. 2 earner for private institutions, David J. Sargent, of Suffolk University, in Boston, earned $1,496,593 in total compensation in 2007-8. About one-third of that amount ($523,200) was reported as deferred compensation in 2006 tax documents, and was reported again as salary in the most recent disclosure. Mr. Sargent’s pay in 2007-8, university officials say, was $449,080, with an additional $524,313 in benefits and deferred compensation. He topped The Chronicle’s list last year as a result of one-time longevity and performance bonuses.
Mr. Sargent’s pay level is now frozen, and he waived a $90,000 performance bonus this year.
Indeed, federal tax forms, which lag behind by 16 months in many cases, might not provide a complete picture, particularly this year. Since the forms were filed, many college chiefs have had their pay frozen or cut.
“Things have definitely changed since the recession,” says Brian H. Vogel, principal at Quatt Associates, a Washington-based company that advises nonprofit groups and other employers on compensation. “I’m seeing a great deal more restraint.”
Mr. Vogel says institutions cutting the wages or freezing the pay of faculty or staff members need to start at the top, with their executive officers. “People at the higher end should be sacrificing the most,” he says.
While some colleges and universities have a history of appearing on The Chronicle’s top-10 list (Ms. Jackson has been among the top earners every year since 2001-2), new faces frequently break in for a one-year stint.
A new arrival in this year’s analysis is Ray Ferrero Jr., president of Nova Southeastern University, located in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was the 10th highest-earning private-college chief in 2007-8, with a reported compensation package of approximately $1.2-million, more than double his compensation the previous year.
The university’s tax forms show that Mr. Ferrero was paid an extra $625,000 for a sabbatical he did not take. University officials say he declined the sabbatical because it coincided with the university’s reaccreditation process.
Price for Poaching
Another first-time top earner came in just below Mr. Sargent: the president of the University of Tulsa, Steadman Upham, who left Claremont Graduate University in 2004 to take the helm at Tulsa. Mr. Upham’s package, which totaled nearly $1.5-million, includes deferred compensation that replaces similar payments Mr. Upham forfeited when he left Claremont, as well as a longevity payment. Compensation experts say Tulsa is among several universities that have agreed to pick up compensation that presidents ceded when they left their former posts. Other institutions in that group include public universities. For example, Auburn University agreed to pay $400,000 of Jay Gogue’s deferred compensation, which he lost when the university hired him away from the University of Houston in 2007.
Compensation experts believe the price of hiring and retaining presidents will continue to increase, though perhaps not as rapidly as in recent years, as competition for talent heats up with the retirement of baby boomers.
“There is a dwindling supply of people who can do these complex jobs well,” says Raymond D. Cotton, a lawyer in Washington who specializes in presidential contracts.
The increase in salaries can partially be attributed to the trustees who set the president’s compensation and come to the table with corporate backgrounds.
“They have brought their business ideas with them, including things like bonuses and pay-for-performance,” Mr. Cotton says.
Rensselaer officials declined to comment on the specific components of Ms. Jackson’s compensation, such as whether her salary included a bonus or other payments. But officials there say her work has led to a “renaissance.”
“The charge that this president was given was to move the institution more into the top tier of American higher education,” says William N. Walker, a university spokesman. Ms. Jackson, he says, has “brought Rensselaer to a new level of prominence.”
In Brief: Shirley Ann Jackson
President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y.
2007-8 total compensation: $1,598,247
Education:
S.B. in physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ph.D. in theoretical elementary-particle physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Career:
President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1999-present
Chairman, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 1995-99
Professor of theoretical physics, Rutgers University, 1991-95
Theoretical physicist, AT&T Bell Laboratories, 1976-91
Key accomplishments at Rensselaer:
$690-million in new building and renovations to date. Highlights include the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, the Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations, the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, and the East Campus Athletic Village.
Completed $1.4-billion fund-raising campaign, including a $360-million unrestricted gift in 2001.
More than 230 new faculty hires since 2000, including a net of 74 new positions.
Improved academic profile of students, with average SAT scores up 59 points over a decade ago while applications have increased 114 percent.
Increase in annual sponsored research from $37-million in 1999 to $73-million in 2008.